1. Field
Methods and apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to reducing a Wi-Fi Peer to Peer (P2P) search time when a mobile terminal uses Wi-Fi and P2P at the same time.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Wi-Fi P2P technology, i.e., Wi-Fi direct, that was suggested by the Wi-Fi Alliance is capable of being directly connected with devices that provide Wi-Fi functions and communicate with one another without requiring an access point (AP), while being compatible with the related art Wi-Fi as well. Direct communication between devices is similar to the function provided by technologies such as Bluetooth, but Wi-Fi P2P is more advantageous than Bluetooth in terms of transmission range and data transmission speed, and thus Wi-Fi P2P function is taking the place of Bluetooth at a rapid pace. For example, Bluetooth 4.0 which is the latest Bluetooth standard supports up to 100 m transmission range and 24 Mbps transmission speed, but Wi-Fi direct supports up to 200 m transmission range and 300 Mbps transmission speed.
However, in the case of a related art Wi-Fi, there exists an ad hoc mode which supports direct connection, but due to its numerous disadvantages such as weak security, increased power consumption, and transmission bandwidth being limited to 11 Mbps, it is almost not in use.
Since the Wi-Fi P2P function was suggested in consideration of compatibility with a general Wi-Fi function of the related art, that is, a legacy Wi-Fi function, a user may attempt Wi-Fi P2P connection while using the legacy mode of the Wi-Fi. For example, while a mobile terminal is connected to a certain AP and operates in a legacy Wi-Fi station mode so that it can be provided with communication functions, a user may request for Wi-Fi P2P function to share files, etc.
However, creating a Wi-Fi P2P group consists of three processes, Device Discovery, Service Discovery and Group Creation, and it takes a great amount of time to execute the Wi-Fi P2P function.